Narrowing the Communications Chasm

Why does communication feel like a massive and deep chasm to cross?

Well... because it is. Each person you work with has different experiences, personality traits, preferences, communication patterns, cultural background, and motivations than you do.

Even the person that things just seem to click with, who it's easy to work alongside has less in common in you than they have differences. This gulf can be massive, and can cause so many challenges in healthy collaboration.

I have seen multi-million dollar projects that had all the needed resources, a skilled team, and a clear vision fail... because a few people couldn't figure out how to talk to each other. I have seen relationships broken, teams disbanded, quarterly goals missed, startups fail... all because the communication gulf was too large.

So how do we bridge that gap?

Well, that is a highly complex question, with many answers and contributing factors. But I will offer a boiled down (and woefully over-simplified) answer. (Hint: the answer is not more communication channels and tools).

We need two things:

1. Emotional Intelligence

Communicating effectively requires awareness of self, awareness of others, empathy, impulse control, assertiveness, flexibility, and much more. And as it turns out each of these are components of emotional intelligence. These are all skills we can grow in, but most don't because it takes conscious and intentional effort. If you are not already specifically investing in tools, approaches, or strategies to grow your team's emotional intelligence, you have to begin now.

2. Human-Centric Data

All of that empathy and emotional intelligence is a fire that needs fuel to burn bright. And as far as effective communication goes, much of that fuel is human-centric data. We need to know enough about our collaborators in order to communicate effectively with them.We need to know what type of information resonates with them, what channels will be most effective, timing preferences within a day, week, or project lifecycle.

We need to know what it looks like when they are vibing with the conversation, or not. We need to know if they are stressed, how to deliver difficult feedback, how to enter into healthy conflict with them, and much more.

All of this type of data we slowly collect over years of working alongside a teammate, but only if we are curious enough, humble enough, and growth-minded enough. The truth is that most workplace communication happens without this crucial data. And the teammates stuck within those cycles are not engaged or flourishing at work.

Crewjoy is building a platform that radically shortens the years it takes to integrate this type of human-centric into your daily workflows. Using AI-driven insights and embedded right into workplace tools, we're changing how workplace communication happens.

Looking forward to sharing what we're learning along the way!

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